Living with an Autoimmune disease isn’t only a physical battle. It works its way into every aspect of your life and is just as much a mental battle as it is physical. With shame, anxiety, depression, etc. The mental health aspect of chronic illness is an everyday thing.
In today’s post, I’m going to cover why it’s important to take care of your mental health while chronically I’ll, easy ways to take care of your mental health, and freebies for mental health!
Mental health and the connection to Autoimmune diseases hits close to home for me. When I was diagnosed with my first Autoimmune disease at 16 I did a little research as everyone does and saw the links to higher rates of anxiety and depression, and how there was no cure for Autoimmune diseases. I couldn’t accept that the rest of my life would look like endless doctor appointments, blood tests, medical bills, and still being too weak to even open a water bottle at 16.
This took a huge hit on my mental health. I was living in fear constantly due to my health and what that would mean for my future. Obviously, I had to do what anyone would do at that time and fill my google search history with things like.
- will I have a normal life with Lupus
- Lupus life expectancy
- Can Lupus be cured
This was definitely the worst thing I could have done and only worsened my mental health and started the cycle of unhealthy emotional regulation.
I went from doctor’s appointment to doctor’s appointment, blood tests, new referral, new medication, and the cycle kept repeating but I only got sicker. I didn’t want to take this new life as my reality. But soon once I had only racked up medical bills and more diagnoses I really hit rock bottom mentally.
It was around this time I started my relationship with God. My search history started filling up with things like.
- Scripture for healing Autoimmune diseases
- Biblical causes of Autoimmune diseases
Instead of turning to Google, I turned to God for discernment. I was led to gut health, natural remedies, and emotional intelligence.
I started by changing my diet and lifestyle and I was seeing improvements with my Autoimmune diseases. Slowly but surely I became less symptomatic and it was rare to have a flare-up or experience symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, Raynolds, stomach upset, nausea, weakness, joint pain, etc. Those symptoms defined my life at one point so having relief in any aspect changed my whole mindset on healing and I felt like I once again had my life back.
I had not yet mastered emotional regulation and taking care of myself mentally so I would start to see symptoms pop out of the blue after allowing my emotions to rage out of control. It was really upsetting because I spent so much time and money eating clean and doing a complete 180 on my lifestyle to take any step back. Having no emotional regulation or emotional intelligence at the time I just put myself through even more emotional turmoil. I just got sicker and it got to the point where the diet change was only minimally helping reduce symptoms. All I knew was I didn’t want to go back to my reality is unable to open a water bottle at 17 because I was too sick.
This led to me being extremely negative, only making decisions out of fear, and letting my anxiety and depression control me. I was only getting sicker being led by my emotions. It wasn’t until my mom pointed out emotional stress had been the only factor before the flare-ups of my Autoimmune diseases at the time. At first, I think I responded with something along the lines of I can’t control my Autoimmune disease. Basically just telling her to allow my emotions to run rampant had nothing to do with me getting sick. Then I too started to see the pattern of my mental health directly affecting the state of my Autoimmune diseases.
At this point, I didn’t know how to break out of these unhealthy emotional habits. But that was all I knew. I was constantly tired from all the emotional highs and lows. I didn’t have the energy to figure out how to break the cycle. It was easier to blame my chronic illnesses than take responsibility for my emotional regulation which was more than choice. I knew I wanted to be physically healthier more than I wanted to live in my emotions though so I put the work in and learned emotional regulation, emotional intelligence, and how to properly take care of my mental health.
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But what is mental health exactly?
First, let’s get a recap of what exactly is mental health and how it affects our day-to-day lives
Mental health is our emotional, social, and psychological well-being. Mental health can affect how we think, feel, and how we act in our day-to-day lives. This means your mental health can determine how you handle stress, make choices, and relate to others.
Why does mental health affect Autoimmune diseases so much?
Unregulated stress manifests physically in people with Autoimmune diseases. Check out Stress and Autoimmunity to get the full rundown on the how and why. But next time you’re not managing stress well keep an eye to take notice if your symptoms worsen. For me any big emotions that I’m not regulating properly which threw me into a flare-up every time without fail.
Let’s go over a few easy ways you can take care of your mental health.
Scheduling you time
Making time just for you is extremely important. Oftentimes with life being thrown at us, it’s hard to find time to spend time taking care of yourself, having a quick check-in, or just doing something for yourself. But we must take care of our minds and bodies because we rely on them daily.
Take care of your body
Nourishing your body with the food that you eat, sleeping regularly, staying hydrated, and practicing gratitude, are all ways you can take care of your body.
I had a really hard time changing my lifestyle because I was comfortable with where I was at. I constantly had instant gratification and didn’t see the purpose or value in doing the things that take care of my body like cooking nourishing meals. I eventually realized the “feelings” I was looking to get out of taking care of myself don’t come instantly, they come gradually. Once I started using food as medicine I gradually started to get healthier. I realized this a few weeks after changing my diet and it opened my eyes to the delusion I was living in a state of instant gratification. With all good things, you must plant the seed and wait for the harvest.
Be kind to yourself
Like many others I find myself being kinder to others than myself. I heard a saying years ago and I live by it now. “Talk to yourself like you would your best friend”. It opened my eyes to
how critical and hateful I am to myself. Nothing good can flourish from a place of negativity. So you must be gracious with yourself and extend the same understanding you give to others to yourself.
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Learn healthy ways to cope
Learning healthy ways to cope with big emotions has been the biggest game changer for my mental health. I focused on learning my habit cycle and implementing new ways to cope with the big emotions I was feeling. To learn how to better deal with your emotions there are lots of free resources online (Pinterest and google), books, or the route of therapy. It’s all about finding what works best for you. I linked a few books that helped me cope with my emotions below if you want to check them out.
Keep an eye out. I will be writing a post soon on my formula for breaking any habit and creating new ones!
For free journal printables, Chronic illness tracker printables, and more check out our Resource Library. We post free printables monthly!
Taking care of your mental health takes time to navigate. Luckily there are many places you can go for resources. Below I have linked free mental health resources you should check out!
Mental health Resources:
